#904 Building Peacock at Scale with António Vieira, Director of Global Apps Engineering at Sky

Peacock has become a streaming giant. How did they scale it to millions of users?

Today, we're talking to António Vieira, Director of Global Apps Engineering at Sky. We discuss how Peacock handles 30% of internet traffic during major NFL games, why live streaming is exponentially harder than video on demand, and how AI is being used to create personalized content experiences with synthetic voices.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! 

To learn more about Sky, check out their website here.

About António Vieira

António Vieira is the Director of Global Apps Engineering at Sky, where he leads the team responsible for building and running the Peacock streaming service. Over the past 13 years, he has grown his engineering organization from 4 people in Portugal to 500 engineers across Portugal, the UK, Czechia, and the US. His team manages streaming platforms including Peacock in the US, NowTV in Europe, SkyShowTime in 22 European countries, and Showmax across Africa. António has been instrumental in building Peacock since early 2019 and has successfully delivered record-breaking live streaming events, including NFL games that reached 23 million viewers and represented 30% of all internet traffic.

About Sky

Sky connects and entertains millions of people across Europe. At the heart of everything we do, is a belief that people deserve better. For decades, we’ve shaken up every category we entered to give people what they love, to make life a little easier and to provide great value. That’s how we bring millions of customers the joy of a better experience in TV, broadband and mobile.

In TV, we offer the best sports coverage, unmissable TV and the smartest ways to stream and aggregate the TV you love. In broadband, we power homes and businesses, with a fast, reliable connection. In mobile, we bring people closer, with plans at unbeatable value. And now, you can even keep your home connected and protected, through our smart insurance. We design our products to fit seamlessly into your life, with service whenever and however you need it.

That’s how we do better for customers. And we believe in better for society too. We power the cultural economy in the UK and beyond, making award-winning news, original sport, and entertainment. We contribute billions to UK GDP, creating and sustaining thousands of jobs and sharing both our journalism and our coverage of the arts, free of charge. We are cutting emissions and making recyclable, energy-efficient products, and we give back, through free internet access and digital skills for under-served communities and young people.

Sky is owned by Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company.